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ONE flyweight submission grappling world champ Mikey Musumeci has had a magnificent promotional debut in ONE Championship last year. Traveling all the way to Asia to perform inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium, 'Darth Rigatoni' dominantly dismantled a renowned Japanese legend in front of a stunned crowd.
In a grappling chess match showcasing two of the best in the world, Musumeci showed Japanese MMA legend Masakazu Imanari at ONE 156 that he is the future of the sport. It looked like 'Darth Rigatoni' never even broke a sweat as he smoothly grappled his way to a rear-naked choke finish.
ONE posted a video of the highlights of the bout on Instagram:
"Mikey Musumeci fears no one 😤 Will "Darth Rigatoni" remain on 🔝 when strawweight MMA king Jarred Brooks challenges him for the flyweight submission grappling throne on August 4 at ONE Fight Night 13 on @primevideo? 🏆 @mikeymusumeci"
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It was like watching Michaelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. Imanari, known to be a leglock pioneer in MMA, never got to threaten Mikey Musumeci with his favorite weapons as he was overwhelmed by the latter's masterful techniques.
After fending off Imanari's initial leglock attempts, the self-proclaimed "jiu jitsu nerd" pulled off a move that we're pretty sure he invented himself. Imanari, just like the rest of us, was utterly bewildered by Musumeci's knee-cut-pass-to-back-control transition.
From there, the rear-naked choke finish was pretty academic as 'Darth Rigatoni' trapped one of Imanari's arms and rendered him defenseless against the strangle.
After the Imanari win, Mikey Musumeci won the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world title just a few months later at the expense of Cleber Sousa. He has two consecutive world title defenses so far.
At ONE Fight Night 13 on August 4 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, the 27-year-old world champion will defend his belt for a third straight time. Challenging him will be ONE strawweight world champion Jarred Brooks who will jump from MMA to submission grappling with the hopes of becoming a two-sport world champion.
ONE Fight Night 13 goes down on August 4 at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and will stream live and free on Prime Video in North America.
